1 “When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
2 They called out to them but they departed from their presence. They kept sacrificing to the Baalim and burning incense up to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk. I took them on My arms. But they never acknowledged that I had healed them.
4 With human cords I was drawing them, with bonds of love, and I became to them as One lifting a yoke from their jaws. I bent down to them and fed them.